June,04 2016

Busing it through Brazil: Beaches and Beauty

We started off loving Rio and we ended up just loving Green Toad! The fact that everything was taken care of for us meant that we had absolutely no worries about taking care of booking our transport.

Very few people are ever ready to leave Rio in Brazil. The beaches, the caprinhas, the samba, the food and the Cariocas - what's not to love right?! But when our four days were up in the City of God and it was time to indulge the rest of the delights that South Brazil had to offer us, Green Toad made it so easy to continue the trip, that we were able to enjoy the rest of Brazil without any hassle or extra work. We turned up at the relevant bus company desk, said our names and showed our passports and that was all that was needed. This was huge in the grand scheme of our trip - which is already a year long and was such a reassuring thing to know.

Waving goodbye to the Christ the Redeemer and the beaches may have been difficult, but we were safe in the knowledge that we had an exciting plan to look forward to - all taken care of by Green Toad. From Rio we were to roll into the beautiful Paraty and then on to the exciting metropolis of Sao Paulo before arriving in the fascinating and relaxed Florianapolis and then on to the quite literally breathtaking Iguazu Falls! We were able to choose dates to fit into our itinerary and bus times to suit us, all at the click of a button.

Our first stop was Paraty, which was beautiful - after a short ride on a comfortable bus, (which usefully stopped several times for food and toilet breaks) we were rewarded with the beautifully quaint colonial town of Paraty. The Green Toad trip also included a trip on a schooner boat the following day, which was one of our highlights of our entire time travelling so far.

The included boat tour was just beautiful, and it is a must-do in Paraty. Leaving from the Paraty dock, the trip takes in some of the islands that sit around the port. These lands were home to some of the most beautiful beaches that we have ever had the fortune to lay ourselves down upon. The crew on the boat are all really friendly and give you snorkelling gear and even supply a boat from each stop to the shore, in case you don't want to swim. The atmosphere on board was laid-back and happy, and cruising in the tropical Brazilian waters was as close as you can get to the absolutely perfect day trip!

OK, so nobody really likes night buses, BUT when you book a night bus with Green Toad you get to ride in a bus that is spacious and comfortable. When we left Paraty for Sao Paulo we were able to get those all important hours of sleep that enabled us to have the energy to explore Sao Paulo when we arrived in the early hours of the morning.

We were only in Sao Paulo for a single day and saw the Football Museum, as well as tried some of its delicious food offerings. The city is huge, and one day wasn't long enough. Next time we would opt for longer in the city, as Green Toad suggested. The next day we were on our way on another comfortable bus to Florianapolis and the beach, this time through the day.

The ride to Florianopolis is another long trip, but it never becomes too restless and uncomfortable as the bus takes well timed stops for refuelling and stretches (for those inclined). Florianopolis was a gorgeous mix between beach and city and served as a great place to relax and enjoy the chilled 'hippy' vibes of the island. We did, however, find the local buses within the island a little slow, and if you can, it's quicker to get around by taxi.

Another visually incredible trip brought us to the border with Argentina and our tour of Iguazu Falls which was included in our booking. The van picked us up from our hostel in Foz do Iguacu and took us around the Argentine side of the falls. The tour literally took our breath away, and the views of the incredible waterfalls and Iguazu Falls really lived up to its promise. What's funny is that as spectacular as the falls were - we might have missed this trip had it not been part of the Green Toad booking. It was the perfect place to end our stay in Brazil as we crossed the border to Argentina.

We had a wonderful experience with Green Toad, we gained some incredible memories from the sites and cities the trip took us to and had so much fun that we booked another trip with them for the next stage of our travel through Argentina. Thanks again Green Toad!

British couple Charlotte Howell and Stephen Tew are currently travelling the world for 1 year and while in Brazil and Argentina they travelled with us on the following trips: